11-12-2007, 03:33 PM
Hello everyone! I am new to this forum and just wanted to say 'hi'.
I discovered an old Philco 37-116X console with automatic tuning in the Alaska basement of a friend over 10 years ago. After expressing interest in the radio upon seeing it in the basement, my friend was more than happy to give it to me.
The inside was VERY dusty, and even someone who didn't know anything about radios could tell that one of the "light bulbs" was cracked and one or two others were missing. It has sat as a decorative piece of furniture for many years in the various places I've lived since then, but I have never once plugged it in or turned it on (obviously).
Well, now I would actually like for it to WORK and work well, so I just finished sending the chassis off to Ron Ramirez. Hopefully sometime next year, my radio will operate just as perfectly (or better) as it did when new.
One interesting feature my radio had that I have not seen in pictures of others is a separate component called an RCA Beat Frequency Oscillator. Ron told me that this unit allows the radio to receive and play CW and SSB transmissions. I don't know anything about these two frequencies, but supposedly they are still used for marine communications? I never heard of this sort of thing before.
Once I have the radio safely and reliably operable, my next immediate goal is to be able to play other sound devices (turntable, tape deck, CD player, iPod) through it. Any ideas on how to do this? Ordinarily, one would use an FM modulator, but since this radio does not receive FM, then what is the best possibility for the best possible sound transfer?
I discovered an old Philco 37-116X console with automatic tuning in the Alaska basement of a friend over 10 years ago. After expressing interest in the radio upon seeing it in the basement, my friend was more than happy to give it to me.
The inside was VERY dusty, and even someone who didn't know anything about radios could tell that one of the "light bulbs" was cracked and one or two others were missing. It has sat as a decorative piece of furniture for many years in the various places I've lived since then, but I have never once plugged it in or turned it on (obviously).
Well, now I would actually like for it to WORK and work well, so I just finished sending the chassis off to Ron Ramirez. Hopefully sometime next year, my radio will operate just as perfectly (or better) as it did when new.
One interesting feature my radio had that I have not seen in pictures of others is a separate component called an RCA Beat Frequency Oscillator. Ron told me that this unit allows the radio to receive and play CW and SSB transmissions. I don't know anything about these two frequencies, but supposedly they are still used for marine communications? I never heard of this sort of thing before.
Once I have the radio safely and reliably operable, my next immediate goal is to be able to play other sound devices (turntable, tape deck, CD player, iPod) through it. Any ideas on how to do this? Ordinarily, one would use an FM modulator, but since this radio does not receive FM, then what is the best possibility for the best possible sound transfer?
